Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device adapted to assist a walking motion of a creature.
Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed a technical approach for controlling strength of an assisting force in a walking motion cycle in order to prompt smooth walking motion of a creature by the assisting force acted on the creature (refer to Japanese Patent Publication No. 4271713, published on Jun. 3, 2009 (Patent Document 1), hereby incorporated in full by reference).
Specifically, a stretching motion of a leg is assisted by a relatively strong force in a floor-landing state and a stretching motion state of the leg, and as a result, the leg receives relatively strong floor reaction force. This floor reaction force is transferred to the body via the leg in the floor-landing state, thereby prompting translation of the body to the forward. Moreover, by the reflex due to the leg being stretched in the floor-landing state by the assisting force (stretch reflex), a bending motion (a forward motion) of the leg is prompted in the floor-leaving state subsequent to the floor-landing state. Therefore, the periodic walking motion of the creature is assisted so as to prompt not only the stretching motion (a backward motion) of the leg of the creature in the floor-landing state, but also smooth bending motion (the forward motion) of the leg in the floor-leaving state.
However, there still remains a possibility of improvement in the manner of walking motion assisting from the view point of linkage of each motion of a pair of right and left legs of the creature.